haze

im 14 and next year its serious time . im planning on doing more races that test me and push me to the limit. im from new zealand so the distance is really not to much of a problem. i can ride almost anywhere. i wanna do a 160km race which for me will b a big achievement to finish it but i need some advice on how much training i should do. i dont really know how many kms i should b doing a week and i was hoping one of the more experianced or even just any one with an idea could give me or help me work out a training schedule to work on...please

prestonjb

I think the rule is to build up so that around 2 weeks before the event you do a training ride that is approx 80% of the distance of the event. Then cut back to less than 50% of the distance so you don't over do it before the event.

I would also suggest you contact a coach if you can find one. I'm not up on a lot of this but I remember from talking to some guys riding on a club sponcered ride that had a USCF Development qualification. Those guys were like 14-16 years old and I was taking it easy when I pulled up and started talking to them... When I started to kick again and dropped them I pulled up and asked why they didn't shift up and follow.

They said something strange to me at the time.. They were not allowed to use their big ring for the USCF development program qualification. Something about not wanting to stress their legs/knees due to their age...

Kinda makes sense so being you are around the same age I would investigate it from this view so you don't cause any long term damage...

Heres hope to you enjoying a long career in cycling amd perhaps I'll read about you in Velo News one day

cbhungry

It may be the enhanced chance of epiphyseal plate fracture and damage in the growth plates at the end of a teenager's long bones (especially the legs) on the larger chain ring. In boys it closes at age 20, in girls, age 17. (earlier if steroids are illegally used). However, teenage mountain bikers are always undergoing bursts of sheer force and stress on their legs during difficult climbs that probably mimic the higher stress on the big ring. It would be interesting to see data on the two different types of biking and the effects on teenagers who are engaged in heavy training and racing schedules.

SirSpinsalot

I have read time and time again that cycling is not considered load bearing. While I do not agree completely, if it is true then perhaps it is not a big deal.

Weight lifting heavy poundages on the other hand is a no no.

Croak

That is antiquated rubbish which has been debunked many a time.

It's always the way, one study published in the 80's hits the media and no one forgets it or, god forbid, checks for new studies on the same topic.

Sorry, I have an issue, I'm dealing with it

SD Fixed

epiphyseal plate?

Do I have one of those?

jacob

14 yrs...

from when I was 14 I know that I can tell you just to be careful with not doing so-called whacky things like wiping out in front of a traffic light that you just ran and then saying, "Oh, was that a Buick, a Mercedes, a Pontiac, a Toyota, (or whatever)"


Jacob

SamDaBikinMan

These are the growth plates at the end of the bones. They close or fuse at around 17-20 years of age depending upon sex.

If you have no sex between 17 and 20 they will remain unfused and your knees become jello.

haze

thanks guys....yea i have heard about not using your big chain ring. The only thing wrong with that is ai tend to like to stay in my bigger ring. i have a personal trainer..but i think that even though i hav a full gym avaliable to me its no use unless i have a proper workout routine to go to. And as the trainer dosnt know alot about cycling its sorta hard. I hav a friend who is 17 and he does about 70km everyday after school. wow.

prestonjb

Yea I think you need to find a cycling coach instead of a fitness insructor. The instructor could probably help in the gym to make sure you do the exercises correctly but the coach would know more about cycling specific stuff.

As for the big ring stuff, check out your cadence. I don't know what your goal for your age is and there is some mystique in the whole spinning thing anyway...

I'm 42 and I'm now into my end-of-season program. This is a home-made program but it has been working for my high-speed-high-distance-non-race riding.

My off-season consists of keeping my 65+mile/100+k Saturday & Sunday rides with a speed around 24mph/38kph... An occasional 100mile/160k ride is thrown in to build endurance... Some are hill climbing some are mountain passes.

However my weekday rides which are up to 30mph/48kph for 25miles/40k swtich to

25miles/40k (same distance) but the speed drops to a MAX SPEED of 20mph/32kph.

During the next 5 months I will stay in this mode (I time it with Daylight Savings Time) <The Saturday and Sunday programs don't change... typically 3 weekends of 100k/60+ miles followed by a 4th week of 160k/100+ miles>

While I am doing the slow rides I work on bringing up my cadence, watch my legs, check position on saddle and drops, make sure I'm turning circles not squares My goal is to build my cadence to be easy to maintain at 105rpms. I will work on some rides or on parts of these rides to hit and hold 115rpms for at least 2 miles/3k. Usually I can sustain 110rpms for quite some time after a few months of practice.

So when I start the season is that I can hold a 105rpm cadence without trying, and as I crank through the season I see this slowly drop to around 99-101.

After doing my 200K/130mile, 165 mile and my 300k/189mile rides my cadence tends to drop. And toward the end of the season my cadence is in the mid 90s. So now the season is over and I'm working on getting my cadence up again. After 3 weeks I can already feel my cadence going up... Can't wait until April!

NZLcyclist

HEY HEY! another auckland teen on the forums!!! yay dude send me a PM and we can meet up and ill give you some training tips....im doing the 160km around taupo at the end of this month so yeah.

Regards,
Brendon